[Web4lib] Transition to electronic resources in undergraduate social science

[Dan Scott]

2008/6/17 B.G. Sloan <bgsloan2 at yahoo.com>:
>
> Thought some of you might be interested in this...
>
> Kriebel, Leslie, and Leslie Lapham. Transition to electronic resources in undergraduate social science research: A study of honors theses bibliographies, 1999-2005. College & Research Libraries, 69(3), 268-283. May 2008. (Available online to ACRL members only).
>
> Abstract:
>
> "This citation analysis assesses use of print and electronic
> resources in advanced undergraduate research at Wellesley College. Using
> four years of social science honors theses bibliographies, the
> proportionate use of electronic versus print sources is determined.
> Consistent discipline-based patterns in resource use are identified to
> inform future instruction and digital collections policies. Findings
> reveal: (1) an explosion in use of nonperiodical, nonbook Web sources; (2)
> a rapid decline in the use of print journals; and (3) a persistent lack of
> use of e-books. The authors argue that greater emphasis on starting
> research with scholarly indexes and bibliographies is a fruitful
> corrective to recent overdependence on random Web searching and will also
> better ground students in solid research practices as transitions in the
> scholarly publishing world continue."
>

Just reading the abstract, I don't find it surprising that between
1999-2005 there wasn't much use of e-books. The e-book interfaces that
I was exposed to in the period of the study were dreadfully unusable
one-page-at-a-time things. In my opinion, e-book interfaces have
started becoming usable only in the past year or two, as publishers
started relaxing and allowing users to download full chapters in PDF -
well, at least in some interfaces.

I'm interested in reading the study, now, thanks for pointing it out.
I would also be interested in seeing a followup study for the
2005-2010 period to see what happens "as transitions in the scholarly
publishing world continue".

-- 
Dan Scott
Laurentian University